Look Her in the Eye

He said, She Said — 3 The Eye

H. W. Bryce

Re: Alzheimer’s, I should have known, to look her in the eye

They met to support each other,
Care Givers all
And he said, She’s driving me crazy
She said, Short trip
He said, She keeps asking me the same question,
Over and over and over again
And she said, You shoulda studied harder,
You knew there’d be a test
He said, She’s relentless
She said, Did ya look her in the eye?
He said, She won’t stop
She said, Did ya look her in the eye?
He said, I told her, I told ya that awready, thirteen times
She said, Did you look her in the eye?
He said, I tried walking away
She said, Did you look her in the eye?
He said, She followed me all around the house
She said, Did you look her in the eye?
He said, I don’t know what to do
She said, Ya gotta look her in the eye

At the next meeting of the Care Givers All
She said, Did ya look her in the eye?
He said, I did
She said, Did she understand?
He said, She did
She said, Well there you are then
He said, I shoulda known

To look an Alzheimer’s patient in the eye is paramount. The disease causes lack of attention, sometimes loss of hearing, and, towards the later stages, lack of recognition. In this case, the person is in the repetition stage, which does, indeed, confuse and infuriate the care giver, who is almost always a family member.